Epona
I sometimes hate Nintendo for making me want to take nostalgia trips into old games. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, still my favourite Zelda game to date, was due to be released for the 3DS. I would constantly fangasm while watching the commercials for it on TV. Seeing the images related to the game kept making me want to play it more and more; kept making me eye my old Gamecube because I knew I had the game for that system. Eventually, I caved. Watching Link being mega awesome on the screen for what seemed like the hundredth time, made me want to revisit the land of Hyrule again. So, I scuttled upstairs and into my room where I hauled out the Gamecube and hooked it up to my small television set. I then rummaged through my videogame drawer until I found and pulled out the case for the Zelda Collection. I excitedly popped the disk into the Gamecube and booted it up, bouncing in my seat slightly as the system's introduction played on the screen. I selected Ocarina of Time from the game menu and couldn't help but smile as the title sequence started to run through. Initially, I had wanted to start a new game; to start fresh from the beginning. But as I looked at the top file, "LINK," my previous and completed game, a different feeling overwhelmed me. I wanted to see Epona again. Epona was the cornerstone for my Zelda obsession. Though I was never able to actually play Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64 when it first came out, friends who owned the game would allow me to ride around on the famed horse if they weren't too busy trying to beat a dungeon or something. My heart sank a little. I knew I was going to see Epona again if I started a new game, but it would still be a while before I could rescue her from Lon Lon Ranch in order to ride her again. After some consideration, I decided "what the hey" and selected my old file. I could always start a new adventure later. The game resumed as it should post Ganon, with Link in the Temple of Time. Link was wearing the red Goron tunic (which I preferred to the Kokiri green one) and equipped with the Mirror Shield. In the "C" button area, I had The Lens of Truth, the Ocarina of Time and Din's Fire selected from my last adventure, but seeing as I was going to be taking a quick jaunt with Epona, I went into my inventory and selected the Fairy Bow to replace my Lens of Truth. Just for fun. After I was satisfied with my changes, I took control of Link, ran him outside of the Temple and into Hyrule field. Once there, I stopped a moment to take in the surroundings before pressing the corresponding button for down "C" to take out the Ocarina. Fiddling with the buttons for a bit to figure out which one made what sound, I played Epona's song and gleefully hummed along with the familiar melody. After the song was finished, I heard a familiar whinny and a cacophony of hooves as Epona came galloping toward Link. A wide grin spread across my face. "There's my girl," I said softly to the TV screen. Once Epona slowed to a stop, I moved Link over to her and mounted. It took me a few seconds to get Epona facing the direction that I wanted, but as soon as I pressed "A" and heard Link slap the horse with a quick cry, I was off into my world of bliss. It had been so long. I wanted to ride Epona everywhere I could in the game for as long as I saw fit. After travelling the length of Hyrule Field for some time, jumping some of the fences along the way, I decided to head over to the Gerudo Valley since I loved how the beat of Epona's hooves matched up with the music there. However, it had been a couple of years since I last played this game, so I was a little lost as to where I was supposed to go and knew there was bit of exploring needed. I headed toward the looming rock cliff which I knew had the entrance to Kokiri Forest somewhere in its midst. I figured as that soon as I found the forest, I'd be able to orient myself in the right direction. But something strange happened along the way. Not too long after I had turned to run along the cliff side, a hole appeared below Link and Epona, sending them both into the ground as the screen cut to black. When the game reappeared, Link was standing in a place I have never seen before. The area had no title name and was set at nighttime. It was walled off, and covered in plants and greenery, reflecting hues of orange from the roaring bonfire its centre. Music, which sounded like that of the mini boss battles, was playing and the area was crawling with an assortment of monsters. But the most notable enemies were something that didn't seem normal to the game. They looked like Hylian guards riding on horseback. All of them were white, translucent and had an ethereal blue glow about them. The only reason why I knew they were dangerous was because of Navi, who had cried, "watch out!" and prompted me to lock in on them in yellow. A flurry of whinnies were heard along with the music, adding to the chaos of movement around me. I tried moving about, attacking enemies to keep them at bay. How in the world was this even possible? I knew there were set holes scattered around Hyrule that Link could fall down in order to obtain items and rupees, but nothing like this. For a moment, I considered the possibility of a hacked game but scrapped the idea, knowing that even though I had received the trilogy from a friend prior, I had been playing the game for years without incident. This had to be something else. It wasn't long before I noticed Epona in the midst of all the chaos. She was standing nearby the fire, rearing and whinnying frequently as though she was in distress. The ethereal guards were circling around her as though they were trying to round her up. That's when something hit Link, making him recoil in pain as it dealt a good deal of damage. I rounded on whatever was nearby and noticed that it was one of the guards. I locked onto it and struck with Link's sword. Much to my surprise, however, the sword did nothing. It just passed right through the character, leaving it unscathed. Damn. There must be some trick to this then. It is a Zelda game after all. I wracked my brain for an answer as best I could. Then, I remembered Epona. Epona! She must be the key to beating these things and getting out of here! I raced over to where I had seen the horse, taking out a couple of Tektites along the way. Once I approached the surrounded equine, the ethereal guards advanced on me and I knew I had to act fast. I pressed the button for right "C," activating Din's Fire, and watched as the animation played for the attack. Unfortunately, even though the magic fire did take out a handful of enemies that were within range, it too did nothing to the guards. No longer bound in time by the animation of Din's Fire, two of the guards swung their swords at Link, knocking him backwards and depleting a total of five in the process. I winced as I watched Link crash down onto the ground before he regained his footing. C'mon, c'mon! Think! There's got to be something else I can do. Then another idea hit me. Perhaps I needed to knock the guards off their horses somehow. Eying the Fairy Bow, I got an idea. I charged forward again, this time keeping Link well out of range of the ethereal guards' attacks before readying the the bow, locking onto one of them as I did. Once I was confident enough, I took my shot and prayed that this time I was right. I found out very quickly that I was wrong yet again as I watched the arrow pass right through the guard...and hit Epona instead. I sat there, wide-eyed as I saw the flash of impact appear directly on her neck. I then watched in confused horror as Epona reared once more, only this time, bursting into flame as she whinnied. She then collapsed to the ground and faded away like an enemy would after it had been defeated. I paused the game right after this, feeling the blood drain away from my face. Did...Did I just kill Epona? I tried to wrap my mind around it. Link's weapons and attacks should be ineffective on the horse. You could hack and slash at Epona with the Master Sword all you wanted and it still wouldn't do anything. So how come my arrow was able to hit her? Perplexed, and half-hoping this whole fiasco was nothing more than an elaborate glitch, I resumed the game and focused my attention on getting out of the unknown area. Unfortunately, the guards had now dispersed from the area where Epona once stood and started heading toward Link. Not knowing what could be used to defeat them, I figured that this would be a good time to start running. There wasn't anywhere to go, really, so to stall on time I tried everything in my arsenal against the strange ethereal enemies. I tried everything. I even chucked Deku Nuts at the guards as a last resort. Nothing seemed to work and if they so much as touched me, they would cause devastating amounts of damage. As the amount of other monsters and replenishing resources diminished, my frustration grew. How was I supposed to get out of this area when I couldn't even leave a scratch on the enemies that were chasing me? Fewer and fewer the defeatable enemies became, until there was only one left: a single Like Like which I had been trying to avoid. I sighed as I approached the creature to attack it. I had been running around for a good twenty minutes now, so I was more than ready to give up at this point. However, once I defeated the Like Like, the area froze and a cutscene played. The ground started to shake and rumble, and everyone's attention, including Link's turned to the bonfire which instantly extinguished. For a moment, the shaking stopped, then something,which appeared to be a horse with a a black saddle, burst out of the ground where the fire once stood, crying out with the scream of a ReDead. The phantom horse whisked around the area, killing off all the ethereal guards in its wake. Then, the scene cut to a terrified-looking Link, who took a couple of steps backward as the animal approached him. It's body was white and translucent, revealing the skeletal structure underneath. Though it had a tail, the mane for its head was missing as were its ears. Its skulled face bore two black sockets with red pupils in the middle. The last thing I saw of the cutscene was the pulsating image of the horse before the screen turned white and faded to black again. When the game faded resumed, I found myself in Hyrule Field...and sweet Jesus the skeletal horse was right beside me! I immediately pulled out my sword and shield to defend myself, but the horse just stood there, looping with the typical animation of the game. Suspicious of the creature, I made Link creep toward it. Much to my surprise, I was able to walk up right up to the animal without it doing anything to me. It even gave me the option to "climb on" when I moved by the saddled area. I leaned forward in my chair and wondered for a moment. Could it be...? I selected the Ocarina and played Epona's song. Sure enough, the phantom horse began to push Link backward like Epona does when you play the song next to her. I sighed with relief. This creature was nothing more than Epona. But how did she come to look like that exactly? Was killing her with an arrow a feature to alter her appearance? I shook my head, figuring I'd just let it be for now. Sure, Epona looked a little spooky, but it was still Epona. If I didn't save anything it should all go back to normal next time I play the file. I would be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to test out the phantom Epona. I admit, I wanted to ride the alternate horse to see if she would function differently, so I saddled back up and took off to find Gerudo Valley once more. Epona seemed to move the way she was supposed to – though the carrot gauge was a ghostly shade of blue rather than the normal orange – but it didn't take me too long to realize something unusual. Link was taking damage even though there was no enemy around to inflict it. Eventually, I caught on to what it was. It was Epona. She was hurting Link as I rode her. I immediately stopped the horse and dismounted. Link's hearts were low enough as it was after that last ordeal, he didn't need his health to be depleted any further. This aspect of the feature made me really sad though. As cool as it was, I would never be able to ride Epona again if she was in this form. I grumbled bitterly. There goes my fun with riding the skeleton horse. Then, I got an idea. I could go replenish my hearts before riding Epona again. I could still make this work! But as I headed up Hyrule Field to find patches of grass to cut, Epona started to act strangely. No sooner had I left her side than she reared up and let out her ReDead cry. Epona then disappeared and reappeared nearby Link, repeating the same sequence as I continued to move away from her. I felt badly as I slowly came to understand why Epona was acting like this. She wanted Link to ride her instead of walking away on his own. "I'm sorry, hun," I whispered to the screen, "It's not that I don't want to ride you, it's just that I can't right now..." It was like Epona had heard me. As soon as I said it, the horse suddenly reappeared in front of Link, but instead of rearing, she stood stationary, forcing Link to mount her. I had no control over the next few seconds as Epona took off with a screaming Link on her back. She ran back to the area where the hole had appeared earlier, damaging Link all the while. Suddenly, she jumped into the ground, causing the scene to cut to black like it did before. I was confused. What the hell was going on with this game? When everything reappeared, Link made a noise as though he had landed after falling off a high cliff. He flashed red as he sustained more damage. He was dismounted from Epona once more, the horse a little ways to the right of him. Her animation seemed to be on the regular loop again. I realized that this was the same nameless area that had the bonfire in it prior , though this time it appeared to be sundown and there were no enemies in sight. I looked at Link's health gauge. Only a quarter of a heart left. Crap, I thought. I needed to replenish his hearts and soon. I took a look around the area to see if I could find anything of use, or even a way out. There appeared to be nothing in the area at all. Nothing, that is, except for a single ethereal-blue bone that lay right by Epona's front hooves. Navi brought my attention to it. Based on how the game was playing out so far, I wasn't too keen on attempting to touch the glowing item. Instead, I tried to interact with anything else in my sight. After bouncing off the walls by slashing at them for a few minutes, I gave in and approached the area where Epona was standing. I stood Link by the mysterious bone and looked at it through his eyes. Was this really the only thing I could interact with? If so, why? I didn't really understand the purpose of it all. I don't know how long I was standing there, trying to decide whether or not I should press "A." Heck, I don't even know why I didn't clue into the fact that I could just reset the game and be done with all of this. I guess I was just really in the moment. Finally – and with a lot of hesitation – I pressed the button. I watched as Link bent down to pick up the item before screaming and bursting into blue flames. The "game over" music sounded as Link fell down. I can't say I was surprised at this point and sighed as I selected "yes" when the game asked me if I wanted to continue. At least it was over now. Things should go back to the way they were. But things didn't go back to the way they were. The game resumed as a cutscene in Hyrule Field. The moon rose as the trademark howl of a Wolfos was heard. The scene then panned over to the field before cutting to a single white arm which came bursting out of the earth. I then watched in horror as Link proceeded haul himself out of the ground before the gameplay reverted back to normal. My jaw slacked. "What...the hell?" Link was wearing a white tunic now. The rest of his body was varying shades of grey; the darkest of which being his, gloves, boots, belt and sheath. What I had really noticed, though, were his eyes, which were black with red dots where his pupils should be...Just like Epona's. Link's appearance wasn't the only thing that changed either. The health meter was completely empty, but all the hearts were surrounded by a distinct, white glow. The magic gauge was now blue instead of green, and after double checking my inventory, all of Link's items and weapons were shades of white and grey like he was. Navi also seemed to be missing. I gulped a little. The game had now gone from weird, to creepy. I sat there, allowing Link to go through his idle animations as I decided what to do next. I wasn't ready to shut off the game yet. I wanted to know why all of this was happening, let alone, what was going to happen next. I took out the Ocarina, shuddering a little as I briefly saw Link's blackened eyes before they shut. The Ocarina was white now, with rust (or, what I hoped was rust) running down from where the holes were. I played Epona's song and cringed as each of the notes shook in a high wail as though I had taken the joystick and messed around with the pitches. When the musical sequence played, the pattern that surrounded Link was also white and grey and the melody continued in it's haunting tone. After the song was finished playing, nothing happened. There was no sign of Epona at all. It was as if I was out of range to call her, which made no sense, since Link was facing in the direction of Lon Lon Ranch. I thought about it. Maybe the reason why Epona wouldn't appear was because I had to go to Lon Lon Ranch for some reason. Nothing really seemed like a coincidence anymore. I took off in that direction, keeping an eye out for opponents along the way. Sure enough, a couple of Wolfos popped out not too long after, but as I drew my sword to take them on, something happened that I never expected. When I hit "A" to slash, Link sheathed his sword and actually spoke to the creatures. In fact, Link was able to talk with all the monsters I encountered on Hyrule Field. Most of them would say things like, "Death to Hyrule!" or "Hail Ganondorf!" But there were the occasional few who would say things like, "What are you looking at, kid?" or would just simply laugh. I found this factor to be both extremely interesting and unnervingly odd. The creatures wouldn't even pay me notice as I walked by them. It was as if they were reprogrammed to act like NPCs. About halfway toward Lon Lon Ranch, I noticed another oddity. It was still nighttime in Hyrule Field, but based on how the passage of time goes in this game, dawn should have broken by now. Reaching the ranch, I headed into the area, wondering what – if anything – was awaiting me there. Lon Lon Ranch seemed normal at first, save for the absence of Malon humming Epona's song like she's supposed to at night. The first thing I noticed upon entering the ranch was Ingo, who stood just outside the gate to where the horses were. Approaching him, I realized that he was fixated in a terrified stance: both his arms were covering his face while he stood on one leg, shivering and staring at Link in fear. It appeared as though I could still talk with him, so I pressed "A," only to be met by Ingo's pleading words which asked Link not to harm him. I thought it was odd for Ingo to be reacting to Link like that. I found myself becoming even more uneasy and I questioned whether it was a good idea to venture into the fenced-off area next. Curiosity drove me, however, and I entered the ring. The horses were scattered about the interior of the carousel and seemingly surrounded Malon who was in the centre. Malon was hunched over and seemed to be convulsing. I soon realized that she was looping in a crying animation. The horses would whinny and run away from Link as I approached her. Malon's face was contorted in anguish. I spoke to her. "Why! What did you do to my Epona!?" A shiver went through me as I read her words. I assumed Malon was referring to the phantom Epona, and I had nearly forgotten that Link was technically the reason for the horse's death. With a bit of a heavy heart, I looked about in search of the skeletal horse. To my surprise, Epona was still nowhere to be seen. It made no sense. Epona had to be here. I pulled out my Ocarina one last time and played Epona's song in that strange, haunted pitch. Yet again, another cutscene played. Epona appeared from the shadows and ran toward Link, Malon and the other horses moving out of her way as she approached. Unlike the last time, Link didn't back away, but instead, greeted the ghostly horse. As he was doing this, the camera moved into a wide-angled shot, where Navi emerged from the left corner of the screen. A small verbal cry of "no!" was heard from her as a dialogue box appeared saying, "LINK!!" Link turned back to look at the fairy and Navi swooped in quickly toward him. However, when the fairy was a few inches away, Link raised his hand and swatted her away. Under any other circumstance, I probably would have laughed. I am one of the many fans who have always wanted Link to do that to Navi. But the way he reacted to the fairy in this cutscene seemed cold; emotionless, as though he was trying to force her not to follow him. The feeling of this scene was very heavy to me. Maybe it was because there was no music playing. A couple of seconds passed as Navi was seen tumbling away from Link before regaining herself. Link then turned to Epona and lifted himself up into the saddle, taking a moment to adjust. Navi slowly floated forward. "Why...?" Link looked to her a second time. His eyes were both piercing and yet, somewhat forlorn at the same time. I felt a chilling sense of sorrow rise within me. About a minute passed before Link turn his gaze forward again, letting out a cry as he urged Epona onward, galloping out of Lon Lon Ranch as Navi, Malon and Ingo watched almost helplessly as he left. Not too long after, Navi zoomed toward where Link had disappeared, just stopping short of the ranch's gate. "LINK..." Within the next couple of minutes of inactivity from the characters, a realization crossed my mind. Link and Epona were gone. They wouldn't be coming back. But there was still more to the cutscene. An unseen character spoke. "It seems that the boy has finally made his choice..." Navi and the others turned around, revealing the presence of Ganondorf. He stood with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. "It looks like it's the end for all of you, then." And with that, he threw his head back in a horrible laugh, one that was far more sinister than I remembered. Ganon's laugh continued, echoing into the night air as the scene cut back to Link and Epona who slowly disappeared from sight as the sun began to rise. The screen then faded to black as the words "the end" appeared in white on the screen. The title sequence of the game started up again. I stared at it for a while in shock. I really wasn't sure what to make of what I had seen. I rose from my seat and shut off the Gamecube. I still haven't found an answer for what I experienced that day. I've tried looking up any sort of hack or glitch that may explain what had happened, but to no avail. I even phoned my friend, who told me that he had bought a new copy of the game before giving it to me. Whatever this was, one thing was for certain: what occurred in my game seemed to outline the close bond between Link and Epona. The connection was so strong that Link gave his own life to stay with his beloved horse instead of saving Hyrule. I checked my old save file again a few days ago to see if there was any evidence of what had transpired. Just as I suspected, since I didn't save the game during the event, everything was back to normal. However, on closer inspection, something caught my eye which made my blood run cold. There, on the down "C" option, was the image of a white Ocarina. Category:Zelda